


Cupid's Gotta Gun

by Minty_Moon



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, References to Batman: The Enemy Within
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:35:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23353306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minty_Moon/pseuds/Minty_Moon
Summary: Bruce takes time to think about Joker and how things might turn out.
Relationships: Joker (DCU)/Bruce Wayne
Comments: 3
Kudos: 39





	Cupid's Gotta Gun

It always seemed cold in Gotham, even in the summer you woke up expecting the air outside to have a chill in it. Perhaps it was how cold the people in Gotham were, how Gotham as a city was. And being cold, in both senses, wasn’t anything new to Bruce. As the years passed in Gotham, Bruce felt that maybe just maybe everything felt just a little bit less cold. He felt that Batman was making a difference. 

But there was one villain he couldn’t seem to keep locked away for longer than a matter of months: Joker. Every time they fought, half of him told him to kill the man and rid Gotham of the tyrant but another half of him told him to let him live, that he deserved help. That side always won and on nights like these he could help but wonder if he had been making the right choice. Batman stood as a symbol of hope for both the criminally deranged and the innocents, but was he truly helping anyone if he didn’t rid the world of Joker? 

Joker was an interesting character. For one he had helped Bruce come to terms with who he was and what he stood for, but he also was a killer and a man that had led Harley Quinn to believe that he loved her. Bruce remembered the day they had broken up. He had expected a city wide explosion and instead found ACE Chemicals blown to pieces and a very heart broken Harley Quinn sitting on the road outside of it. He’d gotten there first and, feeling pity for her, brought her to Poison Ivy’s last known location instead of Arkham. 

Bruce figured Joker had never loved her, he never showed much genuine affection toward the woman. And after years of fighting up close with him and trying to crack how his psychotic brain worked, Bruce had come to figure out some social cues in the Joker. It was no doubt he had an attraction to Harley but wasn’t in love. Bruce almost blamed himself for Harley’s pain. If only he had pushed harder on Harley to make her realize earlier. 

Despite Clark trying his damn hardest to get Bruce to just get rid of Joker and Alfred telling him that maybe he should try and put Joker in a higher security prison, Bruce knew that he probably never would. He wanted Joker to get the help he desperately needed. And the only place that gave at least some help in their twisted way was Arkham. So that was where Joker went time after time after time only to end back up on the streets again in the matter of a couple days to months. The longer Joker stayed, the more hope and comfort it gave Bruce. Maybe he was getting a little better. Probably not, but Alfred said to try and keep optimistic. 

Bruce had tried to compile some type of file on Joker ranging from known allies, relationships, medications, possible pasts, etc but he never found where he came from. It was as if Joker just _appeared_ one day to bring down chaos on his city. It seemed that Joker didn’t even know where he came from. 

Now as Bruce sat staring at the file on the bat computer’s screen there was only one connection he could make: himself. Bruce was the first person to make an almost successful attempt in taking down the Joker when he had first started after the chemical incident. From then on they were enemies and despite Joker often calling him his “dearest enemy” he often would attempt in giving Batman letters from Arkham which ranged from him complaining about the food there to something close to a love letter. It was strange but Bruce couldn’t say he was necessarily surprised. 

It wasn’t a secret Joker had developed a sort of a crush on Batman. He often would attempt a hug or a kiss that Bruce would usually succeed in dodging. Even though he seemed to have a love for Batman it never stopped him from fighting tooth and nail. But the more he thought about it, Joker had never given him an injury that had had lasting consequences. Always happened to have just missed or missed the spot completely. 

There was something someone had said to him once, “The criminally deranged, you’re drawn to them aren’t you?” At the time he had brushed it off but now, well maybe they were correct. No matter how many people Joker hurt, no matter how many times they fought, Bruce would still try and help Joker.

**Author's Note:**

> Fanfic title from Until We Bleed by Mikael Karlsson. Thank you for reading.


End file.
